BETT 2018

BETT stands for British Education and Training Technology. I hadn’t been for a year or so, and this year I was blown away by the sheer size of it. It was actually slightly overwhelming, with the usual fervid sales drive.

There was a proliferation of little robots this year. Most of them seemed to be about teaching young students to learn about programming – robots, but clearly there are language learning implications round the corner. I just got hooked photographing them, probably due to their high novelty value. So cute.

There was enough VR (Virtual Reality) to keep me both happy and busy, with one program aimed specifically at low level language learners. The first I’ve seen like this and one to explore further, I think.

A couple of humorous moments:

First, seeing a ‘digital language lab’ – it looked rather like an old-fashioned language lab. Then using ‘e-liquid’ to write on an interactive whiteboard, sorry Blackboard.

I started teaching in Spain with chalk and a blackboard. Has the wheel come full circle?!